The hartal called for by the Left parties and the Bharatiya Janata Party protesting the petrol price hike was total, albeit with a few incidents of violence being reported from different parts of the district on Monday.
Buses of the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) were attacked at Kanjikuzhy and Purakkad while a private car was attacked at Thuravur. A private bank at Kayamkulam, though it was closed, was pelted with stones. The buses that came under attack from the agitators were the Palakkad-Thiruvananthapuram Super Express, which was pelted with stones at Purakkad, with the driver sustaining minor injuries; and the Cherthala-Alappuzha bus which was also pelted with stones at Kanjikuzhy.
A private car that was on its way from Thuravur to Alappuzha to convey a death news was attacked and its windshield damaged near Thuravur.
In Kayamkulam, several commuters who reached the Kayamkulam Railway Station in the morning were taken to the KSRTC station by the police, but were stranded since there were no services from there, forcing the commuters to remain there till 6 p.m., when the Corporation resumed normal services, that too partially.
In Alappuzha, several tourists who reached the coastal town for pre-arranged backwater cruises, had to cancel their plans and even worse, forced to wander around the town without even a single shop being open for them to buy a bottle of drinking water.
The State Water Transport Department too did not operate on Monday, with its regular services from Alappuzha to different regions of Kuttanad and other parts of the district, Kottayam and Kollam, remaining docked in the Alappuzha boat jetty.
